Blaze the Cat

What do you know? I am the guardian of the Sol Emeralds... It is a fate that forces me to live with my curse, my flames... Because of my powers, I have always been alone... It's also why I must do this alone! It is my responsibility!

Blaze the Cat (ブレイズ・ザ・キャット,Bureizu za Kyatto?) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is a fourteen-year-old anthropomorphic cat and a princess hailing from an alternate dimension, where she is both the regent of her world and the appointed guardian of the Sol Emeralds, a role similar to that of Sonic and Knuckles combined.[3] She is gifted with the power of pyrokinesis, which lets her create and manipulate fire in any way she pleases.

Blaze is normally calm and elegant, but tends to conceal her true feelings. Devoted to her position, she sometimes gets herself bogged down by her own strict discipline, which made her anti-social, shy, and unfamiliar to the concept of having friends. After spending time with Sonic, however, Blaze has discovered the true meaning of friendship, allowing her to accomplish tasks for the good of her people and the innocent which she could never do alone. Despite of the initial boundaries separating them, Blaze now travels freely between her dimension and Sonic's to visit her friends.[4]

Contents

Concept and creation

Blaze was designed as a character who was equivalent yet an alternate version of Sonic's character. An undated concept of Blaze which was very similar to her final design except her eyes were rounder and her ponytail was turned front instead of back, she was supposed to wear clothing similar to the Arabs, since she was wearing a shalwar and a mid-riff top.[5]

According to the early character spread sheet files of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) it is mentioned that Blaze wears a cape to hide her flames because she was teased. However this "cape" concept has not been shown clearly in games whether her purple outfit is the cape. This was later clarified by the concept artwork gallery in the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations where one of the pictures showed Blaze wearing a white and pink laced cape. One of the Sonic Channel 2013 2-D images shows her wearing a purple cape.

An ex-member of Sega on Sonic Wrecks released concept art of Blaze which was said to be done in early 2005 in PowerPoint documents.[6] Her design was very similar to Shadow's however it is possible the character was in a mere silhouette form.[7][8]

History

Early life

Blaze was born into the royal family of a kingdom in her home dimension who have protected the Jeweled Scepter for generations.[9] From birth, Blaze possessed the inherent power to control flames with her body, an ability given to her for her future duty as the guardian of the all-powerful Sol Emeralds. However, because of her initial inability to control her powers, other children teased her about it when she was younger. As such, she would wear a cape to disguise her abilities which she would only discard when needed.[10][3][11]

As Blaze rose to princesshood, she was made the guardian of the Sol Emeralds. Because of her rough past though, Blaze saw her abilities as a "curse" that forced her into a life of seclusion for her duty. As such, she shut herself off from other people to bear the responsibilities of her duty alone, making her shy, withdrawn, and self-reliant.[10][11][12] During her duty, she lived an isolated life without any real friends and the conviction that she needed nobody, a lack of connections that meant she never learned how to use the Sol Emeralds.[13] During her reign, Blaze met the villainous Dr. Eggman Nega who would become her nemesis.

Sonic Rush

In Sonic Rush, Blaze's dimension and Sonic the Hedgehog's are in flux with one another, allowing the characters to travel from one to the other through a tear in the space-time continuum. Blaze is the only playable character in Sonic Rush aside from Sonic himself.

When Dr. Eggman came to her world and stole the Sol Emeralds, the Sol Emeralds summoned her through the space-time tear that lead to Sonic's world, where she set about recovering the Emeralds from him. Early on this mission she encountered Cream the Rabbit, who immediately took on the role of Blaze's guide and close friend, despite Blaze's misgivings. Blaze was surprised at the openness and naivety of the young rabbit, especially when she was invited into Cream's house almost immediately after meeting her for the first time. Cream set about teaching Blaze the meaning of friendship. They encountered several of Cream's friends (including Knuckles and Amy) who all suggested that Blaze ask Sonic for help. However, she was so convinced that she needed no help that when she and Sonic did actually cross paths, she attacked him. After a brief battle, she admitted her mistake.

After the battle she gained the last of the Sol Emeralds. However, just as she had recovered from her victory, Eggman appeared and demanded that he meet with Blaze alone and that he kidnapped Cream. Angered, Blaze pursued Eggman to Unknown and defeated his giant robot. After searching frantically through the robot's ruins, she found Cream and the two left, presuming Eggman was defeated.

Having collected all the Sol Emeralds, Blaze was surprised that their power did not return her to her world. As she was contemplating this, Eggman and Eggman Nega appeared in a giant mech. Blaze fought them, but they easily defeated her and drained the power of the Sol Emeralds. Hopeless about her plight, Blaze was surprised when Sonic showed up. He told her that the true power of the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds came from people's friendship and encouraged her to open up to other people and recognize the friends she made on her journey. Finally appreciating the value of friendship, and the need to accept help from others from time to time, Blaze began to realize the true power of the Sol Emeralds, recharging them and for the first time used their power to transform into Burning Blaze. As Burning Blaze, she and Super Sonic successfully stopped Eggman and Eggman Nega from taking over the universe and at the same time repairing the tear in the space-time continuum and once again separating their worlds. Afterward, she and Sonic promise to see each other again and say their goodbyes as they shake hands, being torn apart by their respective dimensions being returned to normal.

On the path back to her dimension, she remembers Sonic's word of advice on friendship and trust and that she now had that power. Reassured, she said to her imagination of Sonic that they would definitely meet again, and headed back to her world.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Throughout Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Blaze is a follower of Silver, who shows signs of insecurity when she is not around. At the end of Silver's story, Silver tries to seal Iblis inside of his soul, but the Flames of Disaster wouldn't accept him as the vessel. Blaze ends up sealing Iblis inside her soul, and begs Silver to use Chaos Control to seal them into another dimension. Silver refuses because he could never do that to her. Nevertheless, Blaze performs the deed herself and replies, "You're still so naive. But, I...I've always liked that about you..." as she floats towards the sky into another dimension. Later, Sonic and the others destroy Solaris in all existing timelines which eventually led to the events of the game erased from history, meaning Blaze still exists. Blaze and Silver's meeting, therefore, never happened.

Sonic Rush Adventure

In Sonic Rush Adventure, Blaze once again found herself up against a threat to her world, this time being Captain Whisker, a robotic pirate, along with his crew, who planned to steal the mystical Jeweled Scepter, which was acclaimed to have the power to control Blaze's world's geological activities. While trying to protect the scepter, Blaze came across Sonic, Tails, and Marine the Raccoon, who Sonic and Tails initially met up with after the Tornado sent them to Blaze's world. With her allies help, Blaze once again collected the lost Sol Emeralds and defeated Captain Whisker and his lieutenant Johnny. After getting back the Jeweled Scepter, it was once again stolen, but this time by Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega, who were working together to unleash the Power of the Stars with the Jeweled Scepter. Sonic and Blaze used the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds respectively to once again transform into Super Sonic and Burning Blaze and defeat Eggman and Eggman Nega. Afterwards, Tails made a vessel to bring Sonic and Tails home. Before Sonic's departure, he and Blaze shake hands once again, signifying growing respect and friendship and the promise to meet again one day.

Sonic Colors

In the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, while Blaze tended a Sol Emerald, it started to glow and suddenly transported her to Sweet Mountain in Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park where she ran into Sonic and Tails. After giving them her story, Blaze noticing what seemed to be Eggman's robots, and she wondered if something was going on and that she looked forward to seeing whether Sonic had what it took to resolve matters. After Sonic destroyed twenty of the robots, Blaze praised him and claimed that he needed little of her help after all.

They group spilt up after that, but soon after, Blaze met Silver the Hedgehog. As they came close to a ride at the park though, Orbot and Cubot appeared. After being challenged by Eggman's two lackeys, Blaze and Silver easily scared off the robot lackeys. They then ran into Sonic and Tails once more, where Blaze wondered if the ride the robots kept them from warranted a look, and Sonic investigated, but returned with nothing.

Sonic Generations

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Blaze attended and helped prepare Sonic's surprise birthday party. As the party began, however, the Time Eater suddenly appeared and Blaze was sucked into one of the Time Eater's Time Holes and ended up in the White Space, where she was turned into a statue due to the Time Eater's effects.

Blaze after returning to normal.

Eventually, Blaze was returned to normal by Sonic and his younger self. When the Sonics confronted the Time Eater, which was revealed to be controlled by Eggman and his younger self, Blaze arrived at the battle with the others and cheered on both Sonics, allowing them both to transform into Super Sonic. When the Sonics defeated the Time Eater, Blaze and the others were sent back to the present. Continuing with the celebration, Blaze later waved goodbye to the younger Sonic and Tails as they returned to their own time.

Other game appearanes

Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2

Sonic and the Secret Rings

In Sonic and the Secret Rings, Blaze is a playable character in party mode. She's unlocked when the player collects 105 Fire Souls in the adventure mode. However, she has no relation to the main story.

Sonic and the Black Knight

that Blaze takes on the role of Sir Percival in Sonic and the Black Knight. She is the last Knight of the Round Table Sonic has to fight, and the first to call him the "Knight of the Wind". After their fight, she falls from over a pit of lava, and Sonic and Caliburn save her just in time. She is initially confused as to why Sonic saved her, as it is customary to kill an opponent after defeating them in battle. Sonic's defeat and subsequent chivalrous rescue of Percival is what finally earns him Caliburn's respect and the official title of "Knight of the Wind". After Merlina spreads dark magic in the second half in the game, Percival goes off to put her sword in the shrine. She thinks Sonic is kidding at first when he explains his plan, but when she sees he means what he says, she bids him good luck. Despite only being Blaze's counterpart, she can use fire. She is referred to as "Sir Percival" in-game, even though she is clearly female, since "Sir" is an honorific used by all knights regardless of gender (the term "Dame" only applies within the orders of chivalry).

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

A princess from another dimension and guardian of the Sol Emeralds, also known as Blaze The Cat. Blaze is calm but often seems to be dealing with some inner turmoil. She's also extremely hard on herself, and as a result, she comes across as somewhat shy. She learns to open up after meeting Sonic and his crew and can use the Sol Emeralds to become Burning Blaze.

A princess charged with guarding the Sol Emeralds, Blaze comes from another dimension. She used to be a bit of a withdrawn loner— it wasn't until she met Sonic and co. that she really opened up. She can brandish fire at will, and she can use the Sol Emeralds to change into Burning Blaze.

Mario & Sonic series

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Blaze appears as a well-balanced playable character in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Her outfit is not her usual attire, rather she wears sports clothing. Blaze is an "All-Around" character who excels in Speed.

Name

Skill Type

Emblem

Blaze

All Around

Blaze has Five missions and Boss battle in DS and Wii versions of this game.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Blaze appears again as a playable character. Her athlete's uniform is changed to fit the winter climate, which appears to be a variant of her normal outfit (her coat exposes less of her at the front than with the normal outfit). The fur on the sleeves on her jacket is purple as opposed to the usual white. The clothing reappeared in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games in an Equestrian event. She is still an All-Around type character who excels speed. Blaze's signature move for the Wii and DS version is Quick Tornado and for the DS version, Quick Slide.

Icon

Ability Type

Stats

Special

Emblem

All-Around

Quick Tornado

Burning Shot

Blaze Special

Icon

Ability Type

Stats

Special

Emblem

All-Around

Quick Tornado

Quick Slide

Burning Shot

Blaze Special

Blaze has a minigame called "Move the blocks"; where she must use her fire powers and move the signed blocks to the same signed floor. If player makes a mistake, the player can move Blaze to the red button and reset the puzzle by pressing it.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Blaze's stats and description for the Wii version.

In Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Blaze is again a playable character. Like all the other female athletes Blaze has her outfit changed for swimming, gymnastics and Equestrian. Her
gymnastics and swimming outfit is a dark purple tunic with long black skin-tight shorts. The long shirt is sleeveless
and she also wears two red bracelets, a gold necklace, and dark purple slippers.

"Blaze the Cat, Another one of Sonic's friends is an all-around competitor. As her name indicates, she also possesses no small amount of speed and will be formidable contender in events like 4X100m relay"

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Sonic Runners

In Sonic Runners, Blaze is scheduled to become a playable character in the game.

During the "Birthday on Windy Hill" event, Blaze and Silver were on their way to Sonic's birthday party when they got kidnapped by Dr. Eggman. When the duo escaped their binds, a Death Egg drone attacked just as Team Sonic found them. After the united heroes destroyed the battle drone, Blaze and Silver helped Team Sonic search for Eggman elsewhere after offering their help. Once Sonic defeated Eggman, Blaze returned to the celebration where she wished Sonic a happy birthday.

Personality

Blaze's biography in the Sonic Rush manual

Blaze is normally calm, solemn and level-headed, but tends to conceal her true feelings.[14] She is often described as elegant, which is demonstrated through her body movements and her ballerina-like fighting style. Being royalty, Blaze is quite mannerly and typically maintains a relatively quiet, stoic and formal air among others. She tends to have body language less casual than most others, such as in Sonic Generations where she stands straight and tight rather than relaxed like the rest of the cast. She also usually speaks in a polite and lady-like tone. Despite being honored of her royalty though, Blaze is down-to-Earth and dislikes being called by her title.[15]

While Blaze gives the impression that she keeps her emotions in check, she is inwardly highly emotional and possesses a fiery temper, and when she loses her composure she is quite frightening, aggressive, harsh, and prone to making bad decisions. She is very serious and devoted to her position as princess and guardian of the Sol Emeralds, initially suspecting anyone even looking at them the wrong way, which was motivated by her own genuine concern for others' safety. She is usually highly disciplined and focused, never allowing herself to lose control, and can be quite stubborn and impatient once she has put her mind to something. When dealing with enemies, she never holds back her strength and is not above the idea of using lethal force.[16] Because of her own self-imposed strict discipline though, she is often tense and frequently suffers from great self-pressure.

Initially, Blaze held a personal dislike of her pyrokinesis because it left her to bear her responsibilities alone and it made other children tease her for her inability to control it,[10] which made her view her flames as a curse. She later learns to accept them from Sonic's advice and came to see them as a blessing.

Because of her past and devotion to her duty, Blaze developed a habit of being self-reliant, which led her to building up walls between her and other people. This made her anti-social, withdrawn and shy. As a result, she would bottle up her secret feelings, leaving her with an inner turmoil. Not only that, she also lacks in social skills and has a hard time opening up and talking to people. She was also initially wary and curt towards strangers and frequently rejected offers to help, even becoming defensive and angry. This attitude also made her somewhat selfish as she berated Sonic's offers to help and eventually ended up fighting him.

After interacting with Sonic, Cream and their friends, Blaze developed much more socially, making her more amiable, friendly and gentle towards others. She also came to understand the true meaning of friendship, making her willing to trust and accept help from others. While she still prefers handling things on her own and remains somewhat reclusive, she will accept her friends' help and is genuine grateful for their aid. At the time of Sonic Generations, she is seemingly much more sociable, participating in a party simply for the sake of friendship and is much quicker to open up and relax in front of her friends.

Blaze is very honest and almost blunt when dealing with annoyances such as Marine, even outright telling her that she is a nuisance. She also had a tendency of judging others poorly in Sonic Rush, making her seem somewhat overconfident and arrogant.

Blaze suffers from acrophobia[17] and just the sight of heights makes her terrified, nervous and uncomfortable as seen in Sky Babylon. However, she is not much for admitting her fear and will try to hide it.

Powers and abilities

Pyrokinesis

Blaze is born with the power of pyrokinesis, the ability to create and control fire in any way she desires, which is so deeply rooted in her that her soul itself is alit with flames.[18] Though Blaze initially had trouble controlling her flames,[10] she has since become very adept at using them. She can conjure up flames at any place on or all over her body and turn herself into a burning projectile or form a cloak of flames, increase her attack power or even raise large columns of fire from the ground. Likewise, she can handle it delicate enough to creates small flames or embers in the palm of her hands or defrost frozen creatures without harming them. Aside from offense, she can also use her pyrokinesis defensively by conjuring up fields of fire around her to protect her. She can also use her flames to propel herself forward, either increasing her speed or granting her limited flight.

Blaze's pyrokinesis gives her limited heat resistance, making her invulnerable to certain types of flames, such as those found in the environment. Her control over fire includes not only the flames she herself can generate, but also any flames found in the environment, allowing her to extinguish foreign flames or bend them to her will.

Because Blaze's soul is inlite with flame she can serve as a vessel for Iblis who would otherwise reject anyone not a member of the royal family of Soleanna.[18] Even so, she was not able to completely contain Iblis as his power would still emanate from her.

Physical Abilities

Like many other characters in the series, Blaze is able to run at super speed, though she is not as fast as Sonic or Shadow. Regardless, she is still remarkably fast and possesses high speed movements and fast reflexes, something which even Sonic has acknowledged.

In line with her graceful nature, Blaze is also a quick thinker with lucid movements. She is incredibly acrobatic and nimble, and possesses impressive dexterity. She is shown being able to jump very long distances while landing perfectly safely, and can while airborne perform several tricks with precise movements. On the ground she is also able to perform tricks such as top spins, axels and axel jumps.

As the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, Blaze has a deep connection to the emeralds. Like Knuckles, she can sense the Sol Emeralds' energies, and can as well sense disruptions in the world she resides in. Before she understood the meaning of friendship from Sonic and his friends, Blaze was unable to harness the power of the Sol Emeralds, but after embracing the friendships she had forged, she gained the ability to tap into the Sol Emeralds' energies and use them to empower her.

Blaze has also the ability to achieve flight, which let here move freely in the air and without tiring and with speeds that let her temporary escape Sonic's spin dash[19].

Combat Skills

Being the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, Blaze is a very skilled fighter. She is arguably one of the strongest female characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, being the only female so far who has been able to tie with Sonic in combat. Fiercely dedicated to her duty, Blaze is as intense in battle as she is graceful and an equally skilled combatant.

Fighting Style

Most of Blaze's combat moves focuses on using graceful and delicate movements, similar to ballet moves, to strike precise and hard blows at her opponents. When attacking, she tends to use her feet when launching physical blows. Most of Blaze fighting moves comes from her pyrokinesis and relies heavily on their execution. By using her pyrokinesis in conjuring with her moves, Blaze can create unique and dynamic attacks that deals destructive damage on her targets, making her a fierce force to be reckoned with in combat.

Techniques and Moves

Blaze’s primary offensive maneuver involves turning herself into a tornado of fire by spinning around. Her techniques Burst Dash and Spinning Claw lets her charge fire and then launch her at full speed along the ground as a fiery tornado that destroy anything it collides with, similar to Sonic’s Spin Dash, but it does not keep its speed or goes faster. She can likewise perform an attack similar to the Homing Attack, called Fire Claw, where she quickly launches herself at the enemy and attacks them.

By using her pyrokinesis, Blaze can make her able to briefly hover in the air with her Burst Hover by igniting fire under her feet. By also enveloping herself in fire, she can increase her speed further by launching herself as a large fire projectile, called the Fire Boost, which destroys any opponent caught in her path, similar to the Boost.

Also, her Axel Jump and Axel Tornado allows her to jump into the air and twirling, making herself a fiery tornado that damages anything she makes contact with.

Miscellaneous Skills

In Sonic Rush, she appears in front of Sonic in a burst of flame to take the blue Sol Emerald. This could mean that she can teleport through her flames, or by a way that may or may not be related to Chaos Control (or a form similar to Chaos Control possessed by the Sol Emeralds).

Blaze is also shown to have much knowledge on the various aspects of her world, such as its history, ancient languages and legends, and knows much about the various aspects of the Jeweled Scepter. Also in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), she explained to Silver how the Chaos Emeralds work, indicting that she know very well the emeralds just like her own gems.

Burning Blaze

Initially, Blaze was unaware of the Sol Emeralds' power, but after realizing the importance of friendship and allowing herself to open up to people, Sonic taught her how to use their power and to transform into Burning Blaze. In this state, Blaze is granted the power of flight, increased strength and speed, invincibility and her pyrokinesis is amplified to the point where she can summon and throw large fireballs.

Weaknesses

In Sonic Rush, she admits that she was kind of afraid of heights. In Sonic Rush Adventure she showed signs of being afraid of heights (as she seems afraid to go to Sky Babylon). Though she doesn't say it herself, Gardon said she is terrified of heights.

Blaze's temper also makes her prone to harsh and bad decisions. Her rough decisions were also noticed by Sonic in Sonic Rush Adventure where she completely lost her temper whilst threatening the 'Eggmen'. Sonic warns her telling her not make harsh decisions and as a princess she should be keeping a "level-head"; reminding her that she needs to look after her people, which Blaze slowly and regretfully realized.

Blaze also had a rather bad habit of getting over-confident in threatening people to whom she thinks 'deserves' it, and Sonic is shown to disagree with it. This was shown several times in Sonic Rush Adventure, a few times in Sonic Rush and finally once in Sonic Colors (DS version only).

Blaze has been shown to have a tendency to judge others poorly and seeing less value in others. Examples are in Sonic Rush when she expected no one to know that their worlds were in great danger but was proven wrong when Sonic and Tails were also aware. Her poor judgment of others led her to have a fight with Sonic and misjudge Cream until she realized how helpful she was.

Blaze's blunt honesty causes her to say harsh things. In Sonic Rush Adventure she tried to leave Marine behind in missions due to Marine's risky behavior and even went far enough to hurt her feelings by calling her a 'nuisance' to keep her from coming along on a dangerous mission to Pirate Island.

Relationships

As Blaze was traveling alone, after defeating Dr. Eggman for the first time, Cream had surprised her by hiding. Blaze was a little hostile, but Cream instead walked up towards her and invited her to her house, along with her mother, Vanilla the Rabbit. Blaze thought this to be calmingly eerie about the way they would treat a stranger. Cream then agreed to show Blaze around, starting their adventure, acting similar to Tails in the Sonic campaign. Throughout, Blaze was only focused on collecting all of the Sol Emeralds but as they travel, Blaze soon feels a bond, finally seeing Cream as a friend and not a guide. She was very worried about Cream's safety after she destroyed the Eggman robot that captured Cream and briefly thought Cream had been consumed in the explosion, causing her to frantically search the robot's wreckage before she found Cream had used her flying powers to escape the explosion. Even when Blaze left to her own dimension, they had hinted on missing each other's company. In Sonic Generations, they are seen interacting with each other again at Sonic's birthday party.

Blaze was told by many people to team up with Sonic for her quest. However, believing that she could handle everything by herself, Blaze became affronted by this. When Sonic appeared, he refused to let her battle Eggman alone (Eggman at the time possessed the final Sol Emerald), Blaze became angry and attacked Sonic instead.

After the battle (which was never properly concluded), Blaze came to realize that her selfishness lead to the battle. They became friends, as Blaze had learned that it was okay to accept help from others. Later, when Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega team up, Sonic and Blaze team up in the process. When Eggman kidnaps Cream in an attempt to call Blaze to confront him alone, and even though it was not according to plan, Sonic trusts Blaze to bring Cream back safely. Although she loses faith in herself after rescuing Cream as the Eggmen had defeated her, Sonic cheers her up, and because Blaze regains faith and learns the power of true friendship, she can now transform into Burning Blaze with Sonic the Hedgehog into Super Sonic. After the fight, they had a moment to give their good-byes, Blaze had thanked Sonic and the two made a promise that they'll meet again, the two shook their hands and are separated by the pull of their dimensions. The ending shows Burning Blaze flying back to her world speaking to herself realizing that her flames weren't a curse but a gift. When she was thinking about it, she remembered Sonic telling her that she has learnt the power of the Sol Emeralds and that she had inherited the power of flames; he then says, "And Blaze now you have the power! You know what I mean, right?" Blaze smiles and says once again to her vision of Sonic that she'll see him again.

Blaze before returning to her own world

In their next meeting, Sonic ends up in her dimension, along with Tails. This time, they work together as allies to stop the doctors' plans. After defeating the doctors in Deep Core, Blaze then tells Sonic that maybe the Emeralds brought Sonic here as if it were destiny. Sonic was a little stunned then he smiled and said, "Who knows?" Blaze then smiles and pulls out her hand to shake hands with him and they did so, like they did before and the two left each other again, though Blaze remained positive that they would meet again. It also noted that when Sonic is waving bye at her, she seems to turn her head away, oddly fluttering her eyes.

Blaze also seems to rely on Sonic the most and has respect for both him and his skills to the point where she considers him as her most trusted ally and friend. This is shown when Blaze tried to hide her fear of heights, she only said Sonic's name even though Marine and Tails were with her. Sonic also seems to stand in front of her for protection in a few scenes. Sonic appears to be concerned about her, like when he tried to cool her down when she was heated up and he said to her who is going to take her place as a princess and guardian if "something happens" to her when she was taking a risk to fight for her Jewelled Scepter.

In Sonic Generations, Blaze is one of the attendants at Sonic's birthday party and helps preparing it for his arrival. In her own words, despite being uncomfortable with crowded events, she wants to be there for him.[20] She also has a certain respect for Sonic, and said that she "bows to his skills" after getting all Red Star Rings and states she's impressed when he first completes Crisis City with an S-rank in Sonic Generations.

Blaze and Knuckles met when Cream saw Knuckles and greeted him, and though Cream wanted Blaze to be friends with Knuckles, it didn't work out right. Knuckles was friendly until he saw Blaze holding a few Sol Emeralds, he mistook them for Chaos Emeralds he therefore gave Blaze advice to give them to Sonic. Blaze gets angry at Knuckles and tells him that she has no Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles accusing her for lying, made an attempt to harm her, but Blaze dodges and clobbers Knuckles, knocking him out and leaving him lying in a crevice. Knuckles later wanted revenge against Blaze though but was distracted by Amy. Cream also convinces Blaze that Knuckles is actually a 'nice guy'. Near the end of the game, however, Knuckles no longer shows any dislike for her.

Blaze and Amy first met in Sonic Rush when Amy asks Cream where Sonic is. Cream then introduced Amy to Blaze and came in good terms until Amy assumes that Blaze might like Sonic the way Amy does. Blaze however denies it, saying that she "couldn't care less about anyone named 'Sonic'". Amy helps Cream and Blaze later on by getting away from Knuckles who planned to attack Blaze.

However in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Blaze stops Amy from sending a personal letter to Sonic by challenging her to a sport. Blaze also gives an annoyed expression by putting her hand on her face says, "Oh brother!" when Amy is flirting with Sonic by calling him "darling".

Silver is Blaze's friend from the distant future whom she is described to have a brother-sister relationship with in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) exclusively.[21] The two have searched for and battled the Iblis together for what seems to be many times. As they travel through the present, they both make it a priority to find the Iblis Trigger. During the course of events Blaze shows to be more mature and focused than Silver, and is prone to feel insecure about him at times, As she supported Silver, even when she wasn't there, she eventually sealed Iblis inside herself rather than Silver. Blaze transported herself to another dimension, however, Silver is still unsure if he wants Blaze to vanish from his life, but Blaze leaves even with Silver's disapproval and wishes Silver luck in his new life without Iblis and herself, After the defeat of Solaris, the timeline has been erased and therefore Silver never met her. Sonic Colors (DS version only) shows Silver and Blaze meeting each other after the timeline changed. Blaze seems to recognize Crisis City and can be seen talking to Silver in Sonic Generations (PC and console versions only). The two of them are also together in the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, in which they challenge the player to Dream and normal Ice Hockey in the Adventure Tours.

Blaze first met Tails with Sonic when they were searching for her. They have interacted indirectly, but after her fight against Sonic was finished, Tails tried to convince Blaze to stop fighting and to believe in Sonic so she can rest. She was going to take that into consideration and thanked him for it, but she insisted in fighting Dr. Eggman herself. In Sonic Rush Adventure, Blaze finds Tails to be a valuable ally, when it comes to machines and sea crafts.

The two were allies in Sonic Rush Adventure, though Blaze initially showed her dislike of Marine by leaving her behind in missions. However, Blaze has no choice but to let Marine come if she promises to stay with the group. Before Sonic, Tails, and Blaze depart to Pirates Island to unlock the door and finish off the pirates, they decided to leave Marine behind this time, she however doesn't accept it. Blaze confesses to Marine that she is a nuisance which hurts her feelings. Sonic and Tails disagree with what Blaze said and told her she was too harsh on Marine. After Sonic and Blaze save Marine from the Ghost Titan and defeat it, Blaze is disappointed at Marine for sneaking on the Deep Typhoon to come to Pirates' Island which would've put her in grave danger. Marine however surprises Blaze by finding her stolen Jeweled Scepter. Blaze thanks Marine for the great contribution thus realizing how wrong she thought of Marine and even asks Marine to come along with them for the first time. At the end of Sonic Rush Adventure Blaze comforts Marine who is sad about Sonic and Tails' departure and then look at the sky hoping to see them again. Blaze's relationship with Marine is very similar to Sonic's relationship with Tails.

Blaze's most nefarious adversary is undoubtedly Eggman Nega. Blaze hated Eggman Nega for ruining her life by threatening her kingdom and people, taking her Jeweled Scepter and Sol Emeralds, and her friends. Their relationship could be said to be similar to Sonic and Eggman, though the rivalry between them is more bitter in nature. Blaze is quick to anger whenever Eggman Nega says and does whatever that is evil to Blaze such as what Nega said in Sonic Rush Adventure "It will only take the fraction of this power to wipe your kingdom off the charts!" Since Eggman Nega has appeared in the Sonic Rivals series and Blaze hasn't, it is unknown if she knows any of Eggman Nega's doings during these games and is unaware of the fact that he is actually Eggman's descendant and not a doppelganger from her dimension.

Blaze appears to be easily annoyed and angered by Captain Whisker due to the fact that he took her Jeweled Scepter. She finds him to be a waste of time. She doesn't treat him as seriously as she does with other villains.

Like with Eggman Nega, Blaze has a grudge against Dr. Eggman (but since Eggman isn't totally insane and evil, it's not a major one). She hates the idea of Eggman building "Eggmanland" in either her or Sonic's dimension.

In Sonic Rush it was because of Eggman that Blaze was lost in Sonic's dimension. Dr. Eggman steals Blaze's Sol Emeralds in her world, which causes her to chase after him. While in pursuit, she sees a bright light and then passes out. When she wakes up, she questions whether or not she's in a different dimension; she finds out that she is in another one entirely and Eggman still has all of the emeralds. Throughout the game, she is tracking down Eggman to collect all of the Sol Emeralds back.

Also, in Sonic Rush Eggman sends a letter to Blaze that he has kidnapped Cream, which makes Blaze furious, and tracks him down to save her friend. Blaze destroys Eggman's robot and rescues Cream.

In Blaze's first appearance, Sonic finds her in captivity after she was captured by a group of SWATbots outside of Knothole. At first hostile to the "Blue One", Blaze eventually realized Sonic meant her no harm after their brief battle ended and he offered his friendship. Blaze vanished soon after, promising to haunt Sonic's dreams as he'd haunted hers. She later assisted Sonic, Tails and Marine in battling Captain Whisker, Johnny and Dr. Eggman Nega to retrieve a Chaos Emerald. In her next encounter with someone from Mobius Prime, she worked with Shadow and Marine to defeat Metal Sonic.

Eventually, arriving in Mobius, she sought out a Sol Emerald from getting into the possession of anyone else, with assistance from Cream the Rabbit, Cheese, and Amy Rose. It turned out that three other groups had detected the emerald as well, which included Team Dark, Team Rogues, and Team Hooligan. With the help from Team Dark in a former four-way battle, Blaze recovered her Sol Emerald and peace was restored to her dimension.

Her other theme is Raisin' Me Up, which she shares with Sonic after they clear the Extra Boss in Sonic Rush. This song sums up their relationship and mutual understanding of each other as Sonic helped Blaze in her time of need.

Reception

Overall, Blaze has been well received. IGN remarked upon seeing her at TGS 2005 that she "easily earned her place in the team" amidst unremarkable secondary characters. Her gameplay has been praised as "fast-moving and fun" as opposed to slower characters introduced earlier in the series,[22] but criticized for its resemblance to that of Sonic.[23] Blaze has been called "a nice addition to Sonic's cast" and "one of the more complex, multifaceted characters in the Sonic canon".[23][24] She has been noted by GameSpot for her "fiery disposition".[25] IGN's Nintendo Team stated in its July 2009 list of the top 25 DS games that there is "nothing notable about a Sonic game bringing a new character into the fold, except that Blaze doesn't suck", ranking Sonic Rush 17th.[26] She has become a favorite among fans of the series.[24]

Confusion of origin

Blaze is implied to have two different backstories for her origin. In her debut game Sonic Rush, Blaze is depicted as being a princess and the protector of the Sol Emeralds in a parallel dimension to that of Sonic's world, but because of her role and being born with the curse of pyrokinesis, she has grown up never having friends. The same backstory is applied in its sequel Sonic Rush Adventure which takes place in her universe entirely (Marine the Raccoon also hails from Blaze's world). However, in her second appearance in the series, Sonic the Hedgehog, Blaze appears in a possible future of Sonic's world where she battles against the fearsome monster, Iblis, alongside Silver the Hedgehog.

At the end of Silver's storyline, Blaze attempts to seal Iblis inside her body with two of the Chaos Emeralds as she transports herself to another dimension, which led to the assumption that it took place prior to Sonic Rush. The end of the game suggests that Solaris (and hence Iblis) never existed, since the events of the game were rewritten out of time itself. While the game's official website indicates that this Blaze is indeed the same princess that guards the Sol Emeralds in another dimension, there is no attempt in-game to show why and how she is in Silver's time - the game instead seems to write Blaze as a good friend of Silver's, and whether or not she even truly recognizes Sonic from the previous title is seemingly rendered moot when Sonic himself does not pay any attention to her at all.

Later sources have lightly touched up on this subject. In Sonic Generations, Blaze will say "I thought I would never be in Crisis City again" after clearing the mission "Blaze: Piercing the Flames". As the game's own character profiles state that this Blaze is the same one from the Sonic Rush series, this clarifies that the Blaze presented in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) has existed and is reconfirmed as the same Blaze presented in the Sonic Rush games. Takashi Iizuka has also stated that Blaze is in fact a native of the Sol Dimension and not the future.[27] Current Archie Comics writer Ian Flynn's explanation is that Blaze and Silver never met, completely ignoring the events of the game.[28]

"What do you know? I am the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds. It is a duty that forces me to live with my curse... My flames... Because of my powers I have always been alone! Which is why I must do this alone! I have to do this myself!" - When she's fighting Sonic in Sonic Rush.

"M-my name is Blaze the Cat... it's nice to meet you!" - After Blaze introduces herself to Sonic.

"We agreed to save the world - at any price!" - Blaze talking to Silver before sacrificing herself in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

"You're still so naive, but I... I've always liked that about you." - Blaze talking to Silver before sacrificing herself in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

"Uh Sonic... Maybe we should back away from the edge here so, huh?... We can... Uh! y'know..." - Blaze talking to Sonic after trying to hide her fear of heights in Sky Babylon.

"Marine, listen! Since you don't seem to understand where I'm getting at I'll just tell you.... You're a nuisance!" - Blaze telling Marine of her obnoxiousness when she refuses to go back to Windmill Village.

"Haven't I told you not to call me that?" - Blaze talking to Gardon about calling her "Your Highness".

"I... MUST... STOP HIM!" - Blaze letting her temper get the best of her at the Deep Core.

"Yes... That is my duty as princess. My duty... And honor!" - Blaze, after Sonic tells her to keep a level head for the sake of her people.

"Sonic... What kind of a person is he?" - Blaze asking Cream after she had a brief meeting with Sonic.

"Sonic... Do you think that maybe you were brought here for a reason?" - Blaze thinking that her and Sonic's meeting in Sonic Rush Adventure was not an accident.

"I'll put out that wall of fire!" - Blaze before the Crisis City mission with Modern Sonic begins.

"A Red Star Ring? We have something like that back in my world, as well." - Blaze to Classic Sonic after he collects a Red Star ring.

"You got an S Rank? I can't help but think of our old adventures together." - Blaze if Sonic talks to her after getting an S Rank in Crisis City.

"Your spines getting shorter is one thing, but turning pink? What did you eat, Sonic?" Blaze to Classic Sonic after the mission Chase after Blaze.

Trivia

Despite having the title of princess, Blaze is sometimes referred to as a queen. She is called "Queen Blaze the Cat" on the official Sega of America Sonic mini site, Sonic Central,[29] as well as the Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) game website.[3] However, in Japanese, her title is 皇女 (Kōjo,皇女?), which translates as "imperial princess, and is also called princess in Sonic Rush Adventure).[30]

Like Sonic's specialty in breakdancing, Blaze seems to be able to dance Ballet as she is seen spinning on the tip of her toes before striking a victory pose.

If Blaze is tapped in the bottom screen with the stylus during gameplay in Sonic Rush, she jumps like a frightened cat, then she turns at the player angrily and stomps on the ground before turning her back and tapping her foot. When tapped on the touch screen in Sonic Rush Adventure, Blaze hovers in the air.

In Sonic Rush Adventure, Blaze might know more than one language other than English, as she was able to read a book filled with ancient text found in Sky Babylon.

Blaze is the second feline character introduced in the series in regards to the games. The first is Big the Cat.

However if one were include Honey the Cat, who was a scrapped character since Sonic the Fighters at the time, it would make Blaze the third feline in the games.

Blaze's fear of heights is rather ironical, as real-life cats generally prefer to stay on high-up places and almost always safely land on their feet.

Prior to the release of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), an internal document used by Sega was leaked which contained the entire game script as well as extended profiles for the major character. In the Character Introductions section, it is stated for Blaze that "she is bothered by underendowed chest (comments on which will rouse her anger)". It is unknown if this is true to her actual depiction.

References

↑ 3.03.13.2Sega. Sonic the Hedgehog European site. Characters: Blaze the Cat. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved on 5 May 2015. “She has the power to control flames with her body, but since she was teased about it when she was younger, she wears a cape to disguise her abilities. However, when needed, she will toss the cape in a heartbeat.”

↑Sonic Team, Dimps (September 14, 2007). Sonic Rush Adventure. Nintendo DS. Sega. Level/area: Deep Core. "Eggman Nega: It was your royal family that kept the scepter nice and safe for all these generations."

↑ 10.010.110.210.3BradyGames (1 November 2011). Sonic Generations: BradyGames Official Strategy Guide. BradyGames. p. 6. ISBN 978-0761555100. "Born with pyrokinesis, the ability to make flames, she endured a lot of teasing from other children due to her initial inability to control her gift. Seeing her abilities as a "curse" she became shy, withdrawn, and self-reliant."

↑ 11.011.1Sonic Team, Dimps (November 15, 2005). Sonic Rush. Nintendo DS. Sega. Area/Level: Dead Line. "Blaze: What do you know? I am the guardian of the Sol Emeralds... It is a fate that forces me to live with my curse, my flames... Because of my powers, I have always been alone... It's also why I must do this alone! It is my responsibility!"

↑Sonic Team, Dimps (November 15, 2005). Sonic Rush. Nintendo DS. Sega. Area/Level: Exception. "Burning Blaze: I understand now... My inherent power over fire... As princess, it is my duty to protect the Sol Emeralds. But because of my duty, I shut people out, and keep to myself... But trying to make it solely my responsibility, I put my world in danger. But then..."

↑Sonic Team, Dimps (November 15, 2005). Sonic Rush. Nintendo DS. Sega. Area/Level: Exception. "Eggman Nega: Hmph! Once we're at optimal strength, it'll be easy to get the Sol Emeralds back. A pity that Blaze has no idea how to use the emeralds."

↑Sonic Team (February 25, 2015). Sonic Runners. iOS. Sega. Area/Level: Birthday on Windy Hill. "Blaze the Cat: I'm not so good with parties and crowds and stuff, but... I wanted to be here for you Happen birthday, Sonic."

↑Sonic '06 official Sega of Japan site"Having duty of protecting and manipulating the Sol Emeralds (which form a pair with the Chaos Emeralds). Usually Blaze is calm and collected, but in fact she holds burning emotions strongly hidden. Although Blaze is shy around strangers and puts a lot of pressure on herself, she works well with Silver as a partner who for her is like a younger brother."